"Let's Call It the Blacklist, That Sounds Fun..."

Welcome back and Happy Valentines day! As I get older and busier, time seems to be the one elusive element that is difficult to keep track of as well as find more of. It's hard to imagine (but thrilling at the same time) that is about 5 months I will graduate with my Masters degree, and hopefully moving on to bigger and better things with my life. I discovered that since I started graduate school that writing in addition to that and working full time would not be possible, and I have noticed that more profoundly within the last year where I have been doing very little writing. Hopefully once I am done with school that I will be able to find more time to write. So I've discovered the television show The Blacklist starring James Spader, who alone makes the show completely worth watching. If you've never seen Boston Legal with him, Candice Bergen, and William Shatner then I encourage you to do so if you have the access and time. The 2015 Academy Awards are coming up in a couple of weeks and I honestly don't have a clue much about the films being nominated. I am currently listening to one of the nominated original scores by Gary Yershon for Mr. Turner, and so far it seems to be the best choice out of the ones nominated: Hans Zimmer (Interstellar), Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game), Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel), and Johann Johannsson (The Theory of Everything). Not a very good list as I have listened to parts of all of the scores and have found none of them really compelling unfortunately, and I was considering the entire year and I cannot recall really any good original scores, which is unusual. I have been working sporadically on a number of projects such as a musical (think a combination of Sweeney Todd, the Sound of Music, and Fiddler on the Roof), and developing a comic universe of sorts. I should really be working on my third book for my fantasy trilogy, but I think I really need to be focused and have a lot of extra time to be able to do that, and do it well. I am looking to start doing that in the fall of this year, if all goes as I have planned. Not sure how intimately all of you are familiar with what's going on in the world, but things aren't looking too good in all of the really hot spot locations like the Middle East, Ukraine, and Africa. Despite what President Obama and his administration tend to report, things aren't quite so rosy, although for the United States we seem to be doing pretty good, so in that regard I suppose he's correct, but as for the rest of the world as we abandon it....not so good. I have been watching this documentary on all of the presidents of the United States, and also about the nature of the office and the struggle the men have frequently had with Congress, especially in regards to the reach of presidential power, and the nature of the USA's role in the world. Let's just say that I am bigger fan of American activism within the world of both humanitarian and military support to nations in need and our allies. It's hard to do any of that effectively from the rear. On a side note, I don't understand how people live in frigid and arctic regions of the world year round for their entire lives like Siberia, Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Norway and Finland; as I write this currently from the US Midwest, it is so cold! Major props to those people who live in the uber frosty lands of the earth!
Game of Thrones Season 5 trailer
House of Cards Season 3 trailer
Crimson Peak trailer (directed by Guillermo del Toro; looks...interesting).